Hermann Weyl on Intuition and the Continuum*

نویسندگان

  • John L. Bell
  • Dirk van Dalen
چکیده

Hermann Weyl (1885 – 1955) was one of the greatest and most versatile mathematicians of the 20th century. His work had a vast range, encompassing analysis, algebra, number theory, topology, differential geometry, relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and mathematical logic. He was also unusual among mathematicians in possessing acute literary and philosophical sensibilities — sensibilities to which he gave full expression in his writings. In this paper I shall use quotations from these writings to provide a sketch of Weyl’s philosophical orientation, following which I attempt to elucidate his views on the mathematical continuum, bringing out the essential role he assigned to intuition. Towards the end of his Address on the Unity of Knowledge, delivered at the 1954 Columbia University bicentennial celebrations, Weyl enumerates what he considers to be the essential constituents of knowledge. At the top of his list1 comes

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تاریخ انتشار 2003